'274 



SYLBEOCYCLUS. DABCHICK. 



The Little Grebe of authors, Podiceps minor, and the 

 American Dabchick, Podiceps Carolinensis, have been sepa- 

 rated from the other species generally referred to the genus 

 Podiceps, by the Prince of Canino, who has formed them 

 into a distinct genus bearing the name of Sylbeocyclus. It 

 differs from Podiceps chiefly in having the body short and 

 full, and the bill not so long as the head ; but, to preserve 

 the uniformity of the generic characters, it is necessary to 

 present them in full. 



Bill rather short, moderately stout, much compressed, 

 tapering, pointed ; upper mandible mobile at the base, with 

 the dorsal line straight and slightly declinate as far as the 

 middle, convex toward the end, the ridge narrow, the nasal 

 groove basal, half the length of the bill, and of considerable 

 width ; the sides convex toward the end, the edges sharp 

 and a little inclinate, the tip direct, acute ; lower mandible 

 with the intercrural space long and very narrow, partly 

 bare, the dorsal line ascending and straight, the crura with 

 their lower outline straight, the sides nearly erect and 

 slightly convex, the edges very sharp and direct, the tip 

 acute. 



Nostrils sub-medial, linear-oblong, in the fore and lower 

 part of the membrane. Eyes rather small ; eyelids feathered ; 

 a bare space from the eye to the bill. Aperture of ear ex- 

 tremely small. 



Tibia long, but passing directly backward, and with its 

 muscles enveloped by the skin to near the end, so that the 

 legs come off" from the posterior extremity of the body ; tibia 

 bare for a very short space ; tarsus short, extremely com- 

 pressed, its narrow anterior ridge with small scutclla ; the 

 posterior with two series of small, prominent, pointed scales 



